Damon talks about his recent Mali trip

Damon Albarn visited Mali in West Africa to meet and work with traditional musicians and raise awareness of what life is like in developing countries as part of the education project, On the Line. Using music as a way to cross cultural and language borders, Damon met with local musicians to learn about their lives, music and culture. In a marriage of musical styles between the UK and Africa, Damon met with celebrated artists such as kora player Toumani Diabaté and praise singer Kasse Mady to study their style of music, often joining in on jamming sessions.

Mali is classified as one of the poorest countries in the world, but has an amazingly rich musical heritage. The beauty and melody of Malian music is unrivalled and its history is intricately woven into the culture, dating back to the 13th century. Praise singers or jelis still sing the praises of their family or profession and their country today, as they did thousands of years ago often backed by traditional instruments like the kora (lute), the ngoni (guitar) and the balafon (xylophone) to create a unique sound.

Damon Albarn says, "It was such a positive experience visiting Mali discovering the strength of musical tradition and meeting the people there. I think that with all the negative images about Africa on the news, it is easy to forget that people in countries like Mali are just like you and me. When you do realise that you have a lot more in common than you thought and experience the richness of the culture there ? it makes the inequalities between us seem very unjust."

The On the Line project, founded by Oxfam, Channel 4 and WWF-UK, explores the diversity of life in the countries that lie on the Greenwich Meridian line. Its aim is to change the way we in the UK see, think and act towards the developing world, by drawing on the similarities of life in the different countries. The trip to Mali was organised with support from the British Council.

See www.ontheline.org.uk [site down] for more information on the project and take a look at http://www.ontheline.org.uk/entertain/celebs/damon0.htm [site down - visit here instead] where there are exclusive pictures of Damon's trip, plus a sound clip recorded at his jamming session with Toumani Diabate.


From i-gig.com:

Blur webcast

Thursday 5th of October And finally, possibly the gig of the year! Blur's performance from Scott Walker's Meltdown in July - showing prior to the release of their single on 16th October and greatest hits album on 30th October. Be sure to check out their site for the 24hour Blur radio also coming soon!

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